This Point About Khizr Khan Shows Donald Trump's Rhetoric Is Much Worse Than Mudslinging

During last week's Democratic National Convention, the father of a Muslim American soldier who died in Iraq spoke onstage about his son, and what it means to sacrifice so much to serve your country at war. On Monday, one tweet in particular delivered an important point about Khizr Khan and Donald Trump's response to his statements during the DNC. During his speech, Khan addressed Trump, suggesting that he knew about neither sacrifice nor constitutional rights, considering his hateful rhetoric about Muslims. Of course, the GOP presidential nominee shot back the only way he knew how: with unkind remarks about Khan and his family, both on Twitter and TV.

Khan's son Humayun was a U.S. Army Captain who was killed in the Iraq War and received a posthumous Purple Heart for his sacrifice. The Khan family was on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Monday morning, where they shared their sentiments over the ongoing feud with Trump. During the interview, Khan explained why he believed it was important to speak out against Trump's attacks on Islam:

We felt compelled from within to [speak about Trump and how] voting for a divider, voting for an excluder, will put such a burden on our souls for the remainder of our lives that we may not be able to bear it.

Trump didn't take their interview well, sharing on Twitter that he was not happy with Khans' "[attacking him] all over T.V."

But this one point speaks volumes about Trump's continued messages to the Khans:

In all honesty, imagine how conservatives would have responded to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton making a scene on Twitter and in TV interviews over what the mother of the American who was killed in Benghazi shared at the Republican National Convention. But also imagine how horrible it would be for an individual running for the highest office in the U.S. to openly criticize a family who mourns the loss of their loved one who died in a U.S. war.

The difference between the speakers in question is also extremely important. Yes, the mother who lost her son in Benghazi had a lot of harsh words for Clinton, and Clinton will continuously be blamed for her role in what happened at the embassy there. However, her grief was also used by the Trump campaign to further a conservative agenda. And while the same can be said about Khan's role in speaking at the DNC — to further Clinton's agenda against her Republican counterpart — Khan did more than that by speaking to the importance of questioning Trump's continued dangerous rhetoric about the Muslim community. In addition, he spoke on behalf of the millions of people who have been negatively impacted by Trump's divisive words.

The Khans are Muslim Americans. They wanted to share how a Muslim can serve in the U.S. Army, and how a Muslim can also be an American. Lizza's Twitter commentary makes an extremely important point about how each candidate responds to a personal attack. Trump's rhetoric is simply inexcusable because it puts the Muslim American population in danger of discrimination. And that is much worse than the average mudslinging that goes on during presidential elections.